FRAUD ALERT: Watches24seven impersonator!

[Golden Ellipse]

Friends, heads-up.

I have bought pieces from Watches24seven in the past, run by Bruce Ginsberg and his wife Donna, and the transactions have been flawless and professional. Bruce (Watches24seven around here) is a consummate gentleman and fully deserving of your trust, and I plan to buy from him again in the near future.

Unfortunately, I was almost scammed by someone impersonating Bruce this week. Please take note of key information below:

The REAL Bruce
Gmail Display Name: Bruce/Donna G
Email address: watches24seven@gmail.com

The FAKE Bruce
Gmail Display Name: Bruce
Email address: vvatches24seven@gmail.com (note the scammer has created another email address replacing the "w" with two "v"s which looks similar in Google fonts)

Fake Bruce fully impersonates Real Bruce, right down to asking about whether I'm still enjoying specific pieces (which I imagine is from astute study of boards just like TRF). Fake Bruce signs his email as Bruce, references his Fake wife Donna, and tells a sob story about a brother/cousin/friend who needs money fast and is dumping great timepieces for amazing prices. He takes a number of strategies to cloud the reason he will only provide wire transfer information to a bank account with a name different than Bruce Ginsberg.

Fake Bruce is articulate, polite, and convincing. If you are solicited by Watches24seven, please check the email address carefully and call Real Bruce or Donna at +1-314-249-8262 to confirm you're not dealing with an evil jerk doppelganger.

The bank info that Fake Bruce provides is an account at PNC Bank under the name "Sylvester Covington" in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. I have no idea whether this Sylvester dude is the actual scammer turd himself, an accomplice, or an innocent/unaware participant.

This scammer has been reported to the FBI and Internet Crime Center by myself and Real Bruce.

Real Bruce is based in Maryland Heights / St. Louis, MO and so is his bank.

There you go. Public service announcement finished. :)

Bruce, please chime in if I've gotten anything wrong?

[nsumner]

Wow! Very scary!